Video (and the above GIF) of the hand-brushing incident has been heavily circulated in the last week, including by us. Lorraine now claims the incident occurred because of Steve’s impaired vision – he thought he was being given a cue by an aide, she claims.

Our interview with her got heated fairly quickly, as you’ll hear in this (crazy) exclusive audio.

Lorraine initially called us to respond to our own coverage of the incident. When asked about why she would put her hands on her husband – given her claim that Steve’s aides use their hands to give him cues for where to look while on stage – she said:

I am an… I teach three year olds. I’m a very hands on person. I am a very emotional, loving and caring person. And we were in the midst of an extremely emotional moment.

Listen to the parts one and two of the interview below.

Part 2 contains graphic language.

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Here’s the full text of the audio interview:

Lonegan: The problem is that I have a backstory on this, is that… my husband is severely visually impaired. Part of why he went into this race was hoping to be a role model for people with disabilities. When Steve is in front of a group, he’s always assisted to where he belongs. You can see in the video that he does remove my hand. However, 15 seconds later, you can see that he introduces me, and he looks to the left.

There are cues that Steve has followed throughout this entire race that his staff uses to tell him… to shake hands with someone and where… to be situated. He tried to play this down greatly because it is awkward. Now, having my hand placed on his shoulder at a time when he was focusing on his speech, which of course he doesn’t have notes for and is all from his mind, he was not expecting someone from his staff to be moving him at that time, because he knew he was where he belonged.

Deminski: Well, no one was moving him, it was your hand, and he was already at the podium, and he was already speaking for over a full minute. So clearly, if he trusted his staff, he would have known that no one was trying to move him to the podium. I read your comments on NJ.com. And I also read how you feel this is a bullying tactic against someone with a disability. Wouldn’t Steve Lonegan himself be the first person to reject that sort of defensiveness? I mean, he has been quoted as saying, “Look, I’m blind, and that’s none of your problem.” And now you’re embarrassed, and you’re lashing out at media because…

Lonegan: I never said I was embarrassed. I said there’s a backstory, and the backstory is that these are the cues that he has received til now. He’s been in rooms similar to a church where you’re in front and there are three sections. So he certainly could have need to have been moved to have another section. So you are saying he was already in a speech, no…

Deminski: So, let’s cut to the chase – you’re saying that he had no idea it was your hand, even though he was already successfully speaking, there were no issues with the sound, you’re saying Steve Lonegan thought it was some aide who was improperly trying to move him, even though he was already at the podium, because some aide didn’t realize he was already at the podium, even though he was speaking at the podium for a minute.

Lonegan: No, no, the aide obviously would have known, but would have been guiding him in another direction, or to face another part of the crowd, or the camera.

Deminski: Well, that’s not what your exact quote was on NJ.com, but so be it.

Lonegan: Well, I bet it was pretty darn close.

Deminski: Well, I’ll read it to you. How about that? “He felt it could have been one of his campaign staffers telling him which way to move and he was already there (at the podium) so he brushed it away.” That was your quote.

Lonegan: Right, but he would have had no way of knowing that he had to move. He was also engrossed in his speech, which again, he had no notes for.

Deminski: Okay, so fine. So he did brush your hand away? In his mind he did not brush your hand away?

Lonegan: Right.

Deminski: And that’s what you want people to know?

Lonegan: Well, I.. That’s exactly right. And one other thing that I want people to know is that our opponent spent $10 million to his $1 million dollars. And he came within 10 points of winning.

Deminski: Okay, I don’t care about any of that.

Lonegan: No, I know you don’t.

Doyle: That’s over.

Deminski: I know you don’t because you..

Doyle: That’s water under the bridge.

Deminski: But no. Lorraine. Lorraine. Excuse me. Excuse me.

Lonegan: No excuse me.

Deminski: No. No. No. You got your say in. Now you were trying to call in last night when we had about 12 minutes left of air time.

Lonegan: And I was rudely cut off, but go ahead.

Deminski: And. Excuse me?

Lonegan: Yeah, well, your producer was rather rude.

Deminski: No, our producer was not rude. Here’s what happened last night: Our producer explained to you that we were in the middle of a completely different story. We were in the middle of an hour. We had a bunch of listeners (that are the lifeblood of this radio station) that were trying to talk about an animal abuse case. He told you to please email us, and we could set something up for you to come on. He told you repeatedly you could email us. And instead of doing that what you did is that you told our producer that Bill & I should be ashamed of ourselves. That everybody should be ashamed of ourselves.

Lonegan: And I feel that way right now… at this moment.

Deminski: And then you went on to call our producer an a-hole. Did you not?

Lonegan: Oh, I did not!

Deminski: Oh, so he’s lying? Oh. Okay.

Lonegan: I did not do that. I teach three year old children, and I teach them respect every day of the week. I look into their eyes, and I tell them to be…

Deminski: Oh, so our producer is lying?

Lonegan: And I really feel very sorry you. Your producer is lying! I did not call that man an [EXPLICIT LANGUAGE].

Deminski: Whoa! You can’t say the word, Lorraine! You cannot say the word, which is why I abbreviated the word. Now, Lorraine, is there anything else you would like to get out here?

Lonegan: I would like to see you try to do your show once with your eyes closed, and you can get one-tenth of what my husband did from edge of this state to the other edge of this state. To have all of the people behind him. To have everybody proud of him, as I am. To see you try to accomplish one-tenth of what he accomplished, I would be amazed.

Doyle: If people put their hand on his arm to guide him, why did you put your hand on his arm?

Lonegan: Why did I put my hand on his arm?

Deminski: Yes, if you knew that he goes by these cues. If you knew that his aides did this all of the time, why did you do that and then thus confuse him as you are saying is what happened is that he was simply confused? Why would you confuse him?

Lonegan: I am an… I teach three year olds. I’m a very hands on person. I am a very emotional, loving and caring person. And we were in the midst of an extremely emotional moment.

Doyle: Alright.

Deminski: Right, but you deny that he could have an emotional moment of his own by brushing your hand away?

Doyle: Alright. We’re out of time.

Deminski: Alright, Lorraine. Lorraine Lonegan. You had your say. Thanks for being on the air.

Lonegan: Check the video. See that he.. 15 seconds later, you can see that he..

Deminski: We’re still out of time. Lorraine Lonegan, the wife of senate candidate Steve Lonegan.

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